Day 19 – Alice Springs to Tennant Creek NT – 528kms (Total 5,192kms)
The 520Km trip from Alice Springs to Tennant Creek was fairly straight again with the Pirelli tyres starting to show signs of wear @ circa 5,000ks mainly through as flat spot caused by prolonged straight driving. I hope they get us home!. We did not pass any towns today but stopped in at several interesting Road houses including Barrow Creek straight out of the wild wild west and Wycliffe Well which is claimed to be the UFO captial of Australia??. We also passed the famed and impressive Devil’s Marbles.

Some of the Devil’s Marbles – Near Tennant Creek NT

Wycliffe Well Road House – Australia’s UFO Capital??

Barrow Creek Road House NT

Day 20 – Tennant Creek NT to Camooweal Qld – 477km (Total 5,669kms)We got away from Tennant Creek this morning a half an hour earlier than our usual time to make up for the half hour we will lose when we cross into Queenland later today. The morning was a cool 13c but warmed up to just over 30c during the day. The 477km run along the Barkly Highway featured only the Barkly Homestead Roadhouse and the Avon Downs Police Station about midway along. This must be the most isolated police station in Australia. The road was virtually straight all the way with the country flat open and featureless grazing land most of the way. The day was quite windy for the whole trip which made quite an impact on overall fuel consumption. We are spending the night at the Camooweal Pub which has some quite pleasant cabins out the back. Camooweal is said to be considered a suburb of Mount Isa even though it is 188kms away. The highway between here and Mount Isa is claimed to be the longest main street in the world.

The bustling main street of Camooweal with the Pub the first building on the right

Day 21 – Camooweal Qld to Kynuna Qld – 501km (Total 6,170Kms) We treated ourselves to a cooked breakfast at the Camooweal Roadhouse this morning before continuing on Easterly direction setting off on the 188km leg to Mount Isa. The road in was undulating with lots of red rocky outcrops and hills and a few nice long sweeping bends. The morning was not as cool as it had been starting around 17c and finishing up at 32c later in the day. Our hottest day so far. The 122km leg between Mount Isa and Cloncurry was very pleasant with lots of greenery with more red hills and sweepy bends. We probably saw more road trains along this stretch than we had seen altogether on the whole trip. We lunched in Cloncurry then turn due South on the Matilda highway toward Longreach. The red hills soon turned into open flat plains as we headed toward our overnight stop at a little place called Kynuna. The road surface was very uneven in places giving the pillion a somewhat uncomfortable ride leaving her seat on a couple of the more extreme humps so I was informed on arrival. There were lots of termite mounds all along the road today many up to 1.5m high. Many of them had been adorned with articles of clothing by travellers which often made you think there was a person standing or sitting by the road until you got closer. We think Kynuna (population 20) should claim the official title of the absolute middle of nowhere!. Our abode for the night was the corrugated iron 130 year old Blue Heeler Hotel which apparently has links to Banjo Paterson and the penning of Walzing Matilda.

The old and new Barkly Highways between Camooweal and Mount Isa

One of the many road trains

The Blue Heeler Pub at Kynuna Qld

Day 22 – Kynuna Qld to Longreach Qld – 351kms (Total 6,521kms)The 350km ride today was across mostly open plain grazing country. The road was fairly straight again although the scenery was pleasant with a scattering of clouds keeping the temperature down to a comfortable 24c. Much better than the 32c yesterday. We passed through Winton and checked out their Walzing Matilda tourist centre before completing the next 180km leg to Longreach. We spotted quite a few emus on the way into Longreach. The concentration of road-killed kangaroos near Longreach was astounding with dead animals every 500 metres or so. Looks like driving at night could be rather hazardous around here. We plan to stop at Longreach for a couple of nights and check out the Qantas museum and the Stockman’s Hall of Fame tomorrow with a dinner cruise planned on the Thomson River this evening.

Hi guys lots more nice pics looks and sounds like you’re getting great weather. Cold and wet here overnight and this morning but a beautiful sunny afternoon so we rode up to Buchan and back. The Buchan pub burnt down about a month ago but a new cafe has sprung up and its not too bad at all. Take care
Brad xo